THE SLOMO AND CINDY SILVIAN FOUNDATION, INC
GENEROSITY IN PERPETUITY
The Slomo and Cindy Silvian Foundation, Inc., was established by the late Cindy Silvian. Mr. and Mrs. Silvian were distinguished citizens of Long Beach, New York. They were well known and respected for their friendship, their business leadership, their civic-mindedness, and their philanthropy.
Mr. Silvian passed away in May 2001. Mrs. Silvian passed away in November 2007. Mrs. Silvian funded the Slomo and Cindy Silvian Foundation, Inc., with a generous bequest in her will. The Foundation began making grants in 2008. During its 2024 grant program, the Foundation approved grants totaling $2,432,900 to more than 110 different organizations. The Foundation has approved grants totaling more than $30,565,000 to more than 400 different organizations since 2008.
The Foundation makes grants to organizations that operate in one or more of the following subject areas: Education, Children’s Welfare, Medical Care, Medical Research, and Jewish Philanthropic Endeavors. Each grant recipient must be a tax-exempt entity under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)3 and must also be an organization described in Internal Revenue Code Sections 509 (a)1 or 509 (a)2. Please note that we do not make grants to foreign organizations through United States fiscal intermediaries or fiscal sponsors. Foreign organizations that wish to be considered for a grant must be registered with the US Internal Revenue Service.
If your organization meets the above criteria and wishes to be considered for funding during our 2025 grant program, and if it was not approved for a grant during our 2024 grant program, your organization must be one of the first fifty organizations to submit a short Preliminary Inquiry to us through our online grants management system. Each such organization may submit only one Preliminary Inquiry.
Returning grantees - before submitting a Preliminary Inquiry, please carefully read our Eligibility Policy for Returning Grantees, below, to confirm that your organization is eligible to seek funding in 2025. Also, please note that organizations we approved for a grant during 2024, and that are not ineligible for a grant in 2025 under the Eligibility Policy for Returning Grantees, below, will be automatically considered by our board of directors as candidates for our 2025 grant program. Such automatically considered organizations should not submit a Preliminary Inquiry.
ELIGIBILITY POLICY FOR RETURNING GRANTEES, EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 2024
The Board of Directors of The Slomo and Cindy Silvian Foundation, Inc., has updated the Foundation’s eligibility policy for returning grantees. The Board thinks these updates will enhance the fairness of our grant program by allowing a larger number of different organizations to seek funding from us over time. This new policy took effect January 1, 2024. The eligibility policy for returning grantees is as follows:
1. For returning grantees that have received five consecutive grants, a mandatory one-year off is required before becoming eligible to seek funding again. This part of the eligibility policy for returning grantees remains unchanged.
2. For returning grantees that have received eight cumulative grants from their first grant, a mandatory three-years off is required before becoming eligible to seek funding again.
3. For returning grantees that have received eleven cumulative grants from their first grant, a mandatory five-years off is required before becoming eligible to seek funding again. Once the mandatory five-years off is achieved, the returning grantee will then be treated as a new organization for purposes of calculating the number of prior grants and mandatory time-off. At that point, regardless of its prior grant history, the organization will be again eligible to be considered for up to five grants in consecutive years or eight cumulative grants before a mandatory time-off will apply.
Preliminary Inquiry
Submitting a Preliminary Inquiry through our online grants system is the sole method to let us know that you wish to have us consider your organization for a grant during our 2025 grant program, unless your organization was approved for a grant from us during 2024. Organizations that we approved for a grant during 2024, and that are not ineligible for a grant in 2025 under the Eligibility Policy for Returning Grantees, described above, will be automatically considered by our board of directors as candidates for our 2025 grant program. Such automatically considered organizations should not submit a Preliminary Inquiry. We will be in touch with those automatically considered organizations between April 23, 2025, and May 2, 2025. If we approved your organization for a grant during 2024, and if your organization is not ineligible under the Eligibility Policy for Returning Grantees, and you have not yet heard from us by May 2, 2025, with respect to our 2025 grant program, please send us a short email to advise of that fact.
First-Time Organizations
If your organization is not yet registered in our online grant system, and if you wish to submit a Preliminary Inquiry, click on the button on the top of this page labeled “Online Grant System”, then click on the button labeled, “Create New Account” that will appear on the grant system’s login page. Once you create your organization’s account in our online grant system, please do not create a different account for the same organization or for a different organization using the same tax ID number.
Once you create your organization’s account, there will be several additional questions, the answers to which will comprise your Preliminary Inquiry. The first day you are permitted to work on and submit your Preliminary Inquiry is January 21, 2025, at 10:00 AM, New York time, and the deadline to submit your Preliminary Inquiry is 5:00 PM, New York time, on March 13, 2025, unless fifty Preliminary Inquiries are submitted before that date, in which case submission of Preliminary Inquiries closes when the fiftieth Preliminary Inquiry is submitted.
If you intend to submit a Preliminary Inquiry, and if your organization has not filed a 990 or 990EZ tax return with the US Internal Revenue Service within the last two years, you will be required to upload a recent financial statement (one uploadable document that includes a Balance Sheet AND an Income and Expense Statement) to your Preliminary Inquiry before submitting the Preliminary Inquiry. Thus, those organizations that do not file IRS form 990 or 990EZ will need to have a recent financial statement on hand and available for uploading when the 2025 grant process opens on January 21.
After submitting your Preliminary Inquiry, you will receive an automatically generated email confirming our receipt of the Preliminary Inquiry and advising when you will hear from us again.
Returning Organizations That Were Not Approved for a Grant During 2024
If you wish to submit a Preliminary Inquiry, and if your organization is already registered in our online grant system, and if it is not ineligible under our Eligibility Policy for Returning Grantees, described above, log into the grant system by clicking the Online Grant System button on the top of this page. You will be brought to the system’s Log On page. Insert the email address and password that your organization used when it created its account with us, and then click the Log On button. You will be brought to the grant system’s Home (Applicant Dashboard) page. On the top of that page, click the “Apply” button, then click the “Preliminary Inquiry - 2025” link on the “Apply” page and answer the questions that will appear. Your answers to those questions will comprise your Preliminary Inquiry. The first day you are permitted to work on and submit your Preliminary Inquiry is January 21, 2025, at 10:00 AM, New York time. The deadline to submit the Preliminary Inquiry is 5:00 PM, New York time, on March 13, 2025, unless fifty Preliminary Inquiries are submitted before that date, in which case submission of Preliminary Inquiries closes when the fiftieth Preliminary Inquiry is submitted.
If you intend to submit a Preliminary Inquiry, and if your organization has not filed a 990 or 990EZ tax return with the US Internal Revenue Service within the last two years, you will be required to upload a recent financial statement (one uploadable document that includes a Balance Sheet AND an Income and Expense Statement) to your Preliminary Inquiry before submitting the Preliminary Inquiry. Thus, those organizations that do not file IRS form 990 or 990EZ will need to have a recent financial statement on hand and available for uploading when the 2025 grant process opens on January 21.
When you submit your Preliminary Inquiry, you will receive an automatically generated email confirming our receipt of your Preliminary Inquiry and advising when you will hear from us again.
Additional Information about Our Grant Process
Your submission of a Preliminary Inquiry is not a grant application because an application for a Slomo and Cindy Silvian Foundation, Inc., grant is by invitation only. Our board considers Preliminary Inquiries to help it decide which organizations it will invite to apply for a grant. If our board decides to invite your organization to apply for a grant, the invitation will not be a commitment by the Foundation to make a grant. Grants are made solely at the discretion of the Foundation’s board of directors after a review of a complete application package.
We do not accept funding requests by letter, email, fax, or telephone. Funding requests submitted in that fashion will not be considered and may not receive a response.
Nothing contained on our website and no oral communications from any Foundation staff member, officer, or director should be considered an invitation to apply for a grant or a commitment by the Foundation to make a grant. The Foundation issues invitations to apply for grants and grant notifications only by letter or email signed by the President of the Foundation.
Thank you for your interest in The Slomo and Cindy Silvian Foundation, Inc.
Nothing contained on our website and no oral communications from any Foundation staff member, officer, or director should be considered an invitation to apply for a grant or a commitment by the Foundation to make a grant. The Foundation issues invitations to apply for grants and grant notifications only by letter or email signed by the President of the Foundation.
Thank you for your interest in The Slomo and Cindy Silvian Foundation, Inc.